La JoLLa Light
Enlightening La Jolla Since 1913
INSIDE ■ Fire hazards dot
La Jolla’s many neighborhoods A4
Vol. 99 Issue 41 • October 13, 2011
Online Daily at www.lajollalight.com
Residential Customer La Jolla, CA 92037 ECRWSS PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID SAN DIEGO, CA PERMIT NO. 1980
Calling for help in La Jolla Police, fire officials aiming to improve response times
By Joe TaSh olice and fire agencies from La Jolla to Solana Beach and Rancho Santa Fe are working to maintain or even improve emergency response times in the face of challenges such as increased traffic congestion and tight local government budgets. Although clogged roads can impede emergency responders, innovations in technology and cooperative agreements between agencies can help them reach people faster, officials said. In the city of San Diego, whose jurisdiction includes La Jolla and Carmel Valley, the Fire-Rescue Department said response times are expected to decrease after “rolling brownouts” — in which staffing was reduced across the city for budget reasons — ended on July 1. San Diego Fire Chief Javier Mainar said that prior to the brownouts, the Fire-Rescue Department responded to emergency calls within 5 minutes 54 percent of the time. He According to Mainar, there said the department expects to reare three components to turn to that level of service now that response times by firefighters: first, the rolling brownouts have ended. the time it takes for dispatchers to The most recent statistics from receive the call and assign it to fiscal year 2010 show average firefighters; second, the time it takes responses ranging from 5 minutes firefighters to stop what they are and 16 seconds (5:16) to 6:33 in La doing, put on the appropriate gear Jolla and from 6:18 to 7:35 in and roll out the door; and third, the Carmel Valley. (See chart for stationdriving time to the call. by-station times on A13.) “We really have to get all of those
P ■ Submarine crew
visits La Jolla A8
■ Challenged
athletes prepare for triathlon A21
pieces right to do a good job,” he said. ■ National response standard The National Fire Protection Association has established a standard of a first-unit response to emergency calls within 6 minutes of the call being placed, 90 percent of the time. According to an NFPA document, the total of 6 minutes includes 1 minute
Surviving breast cancer ‘as good as it gets’
■ Roundup of
local Halloween, harvest events B1 ■ La Jolla’s own Symphony & Chorus launches season B13
Editor’s note: As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Light is sharing several stories about people who have survived the disease as well as those working to improve their odds. Today we profile Bird Rock resident Lisa Hinkley, who owns Green Flash Brewing Company with her husband Mike. Lisa Hinkley was on vacation last July when she began reading Kelly Corrigan’s book, “The Middle Place.” She credits this book with inspiring her to perform her own selfexam that led her to find a large lump which an MRI revealed was a 5-centimeter tumor. In May, after surgery and chemotherapy,
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she got a clean bill of health from her physicians. “And that,” she says, “is about as good as it gets.” To celebrate, the Hinkleys are making the brewery’s 9th anniversary celebration at the new location at 6550 Mira Mesa Blvd. on Nov. 12 a fundraiser for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. For details go to www.greenflashbrew.com.
for dispatchers to process the call, one minute of “turnout” time and 4 minutes of travel time. Officials said the NFPA standard is a guideline, rather than a mandate for fire response times. Actual response times by fire departments can depend on many factors, such as the location and placement of fire
See eMerGeNCy, a12
Check out the Light’s new classified marketplace The Light has launched a new, locals-only classified website that features house and apartment rentals, stuff for sale, jobs with local companies and cars being sold by your neighbors. Readers can conveniently find and place classified ads in the newspaper and online by going to lajollalight.com and clicking on classifieds on the main navigation bar. The new site is an easy way to “shop and sell locally,” See ClaSSified, a6
We asked Lisa to talk about her experience. Q: When were you diagnosed and what type of diagnosis did you receive?
See Survive, a14
Janice Sedloff - Home Mortgage Consultant Office: 858-454-7572 · Cell: 619-306-6669 janice.sedloff@wellsfargo.com NMLSR I.D. #450876 Wells Fargo Mortgage is a division of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. © 2011 Wells Fargo Bank N.A. All rights reserved. NMLSR ID 399801. Equal Housing Lender. AS558181 3/11-6/11